Celebrating Oregon’s First Transgender Equality Law with Governor Brown

Today, community members and Basic Rights Oregon board and staff celebrated with Governor Kate Brown as she ceremoniously signed our landmark transgender equality bill into law at the Oregon State Capitol. The new law, HB 2673A, makes it easier and safer for transgender people to update their birth certificates – without the need to post a public name and gender change notice or face a hearing in open court.

Passing this bill marks an important milestone in our work. We have a long history of passing LGBTQ equality bills in Oregon–HB 2673A is our first standalone transgender equality bill.

In 2015, the U.S. Trans Survey found that only one in 10 transgender individuals had an ID that accurately reflected their gender identity. That can be a problem when applying for jobs, registering to vote, visiting the doctor, traveling, or the thousands of other daily tasks that require identification documents.

This new law creates a simple administrative option for transgender Oregonians to update their Oregon birth certificates, so they can more readily have IDs that match their identity and more confidently participate in society.

Thank you to the more than two dozen community members and community partners who helped us pass this bill.